Show

When I Saw the Sea

Ali Chahrour

March 11 2026, 7.30pm

ITALIAN PREMIERE

Running time: 70'

Tickets on sale from mid-December 2025 Full: €24 Under 30 / over 65 / groups: €17 Students: €12 Membership: included in subscription

Lebanese choreographer and dancer Ali Chahrour presents a performance honoring the struggles and resilience of women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, transforming their memories into a song of resistance. When I Saw the Sea gives voice to women trapped in the Kafala, a system of “sponsorship” which ties residence permits to employers, voiding rights, safeguards and freedom through violence and exploitation. Three performers tell their stories, along with those of many other women stuck between a country in flames and the Mediterranean Sea, the sole horizon of freedom. The powerful resulting journey combines live music, dance and personal accounts in a rebellious celebration of life.

Born in Beirut, the choreographer and dancer Ali Chahrour, invents a gesture, freed from Western codes and models, which acts as a reflection of his culture and the political, social and religious context in which he evolves. In a previous series of shows, part of his trilogy "Death" -"Fatmeh" (2014), "Leila's Death" (2015) and "May he Rise and smell the fragrance" (2017) - he summoned funeral liturgies mixing tradition with a sharp modernity. He then undertook a second series of performances devoted to "Love", with "Night" (2019), followed by "Told by my Mother" (2021), "The Love Behind My Eyes" that won the ZKB Patronage prize at the 2022 Zurich Theater Spek-takel and concluded with "Iza Hawa" (2023). Combining lyrical poetry and tangled bodies, Ali Chahrour's performances were presented at Avignon festival in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and in many other festivals around the world. Currently, he is preparing to work on a new trilogy around the theme of "Fear".

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Info

Performance in Arabic, Amharic, and English with Italian and English surtitles

Credits

Direction and choreography: Ali Chahrour Performers: Zena Moussa, Tenei Ahmad, Rania Jamal, Lynn Adib, Abed Kobeissy Music composed and performed by: Chadi Aoun Assistant director and choreography: Guillaume Tesson Lighting design and technical director: Pol Seif Assistant technical director: Benoît Rave Sound designer: Guillaume Tesson, Ali Chahrour Set design: Chadi Aoun Communication manager: Lea Skayem Photography: Christina Atik Graphic design: Hala Omran Text revision: Marianne Noujeim Text translation: Marianne Noujeim Produced by: Ali Chahrour Production managers: Christel Salem, Chadi Aoun Co-production: Le Festival d’Avignon, Ibsen Scope, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Al Mawred al Thaqafi, DeSingel Antwerp, Domino Zagreb, Perforations Festival, Holland Festival, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Al Madina Theater With the support of: Beryte Theater, L’Institut Français de Beyrouth, Wicked Solutions, WASL Productions, Beit el Laffé, Raseef, Beirut, Houna Center, Orient 499 Special thanks to: Kafa, Megaphone, Daraj Media, Hammana Artist House, Zoukak Theatre, Seenaryo, Mohana Ishak, Hussein Hajj, Abdallah Hatoum, Anthony Sahyoun, Ali Khedr, Eric Deniaud, Chrystèle Khodr, Raymond Zakaria, Hind Hamdan, Viany Ngemakoue, Sophie Ndongo, Jouma Fayé, Mariam Sesay, Sarie Teshome, Aisha Temam, Raheel Teshome, Mihret Birhane, Laurentine Mbekati